1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to games of chance and, more particularly, to lottery based games of chances allowing for the opportunity to participate in several different games within a single drawing, the changes of winning a cash prize dependent on exactly matching randomly generated numbers.
2. Background Art
Games of chance and, especially lottery style games of chance, have been in existence for many years. Generally, these lottery games are under the control of a state or a number of states. The revenues generated from lottery style games of chance are typically shared with the public school systems within the states as a means of subsidizing the cost of programs for children attending public schools. Schools often depend heavily on the revenues from state run lotteries to give children every possibly learning advantage. States are continually seeking the next new great lottery game to keep interest high among the players, which, in turn, helps to ensure a steady stream of revenues for the state and the public school system.
One lottery style game in use today involves a player selecting a number, generally consisting of three or four digits, and attempting to match that number with a number generated in some manner by a state's lottery commission. Typically, there are a number of different games a player may participate in by choosing digits. One such way to play a game is to match the number selected by the player with the generated number digit for digit, in the exact order as generated. If the player is successful in matching his or her selected number with the state generated number, he or she wins some portion of a jackpot.
Rather than attempt to match the randomly generated number digit for digit, the player may decide to “box” his or her selected number. This means that the number selected by the player may be matched with the number randomly generated by the lottery commission in any order. The numbers do not have to match digit for digit. Generally, a person winning this type of game receives some lower jackpot then a person matching a number digit for digit. While these are very popular games among the players, so popular in fact that some states have instituted a mid-day as well as evening drawing, interest often lags in these types of games because the jackpots are not substantial or the novelty of this type of lottery has given way to other lottery games of chance, such as scratch off tickets.
Scratch off lottery style games of chance are very popular among consumers because they offer a person many different ways to participate in the games. One important feature of the scratch off style of games is that the player knows instantly whether or not he or she has won a prize as opposed to waiting a period of time until the mid-day or evening drawing. Another aspect of scratch off tickets is that the design of the ticket may be readily changed. Along with having the ability to readily change the ticket design, a new marketing scheme may be easily developed and employed to increase the interest in a particular game. The change in the style of ticket and the marketing scheme is an attempt to capture and hold the interest of the players. While the designs of tickets and new marketing schemes may be developed, the underlying game of chance is largely the same, which may lead to disinterest among the “regular” players. Also, larger wagers may be charged for playing the scratch off games, than the games described above, in exchange for larger jackpots. While the prizes offered may be larger than the games described above, these prizes still do not approach the jackpots that have been won by players in the other types of games described below.
Another type of lottery game that offers the change of larger jacketpots, typically in the millions of dollars, involves the selection of numbers from a first group of numbers and a selection of numbers from a second group of numbers. In a typical game, a player may select five numbers from a first group of numbers ranging from one through seventy and one number from a second group of numbers ranging from one through thirty. The numbers are generated by the lottery commission as described above. The jackpot winners are determined by the person that matches are five numbers from the first group and the single number from the second group. A person may also win a share of the jackpot by matching only the five numbers from the first group and not matching the number from the second group or matching four of the five numbers from the first group and the single number form the second group.
This type of game also has the added feature of allowing players from multiple states to participate in the game at one time. With a larger number of participants, larger jackpots in the hundreds of millions of dollars may be realized by the eventual winners, in turn leading to greater interest.
The odds of winning the jackpot weigh greatly against the person, however, the chance to win millions of dollars and the fact that a portion of the jackpot may be paid out for a partial match are enticing to players. However, as with many forms of entertainment, boredom often sets in and new lottery style games of chance are developed to keep interests high and revenues increasing. Also, because the jackpots are so large and with the difficult logistics of running the game across many different states, the winning numbers are generally drawn only twice a week, leaving a lag time in between action and resulting in a loss of interest by everyday players.
Therefore, a need exists for a lottery style game of chance that increases the interest of consumers by offering a variety of ways to play the game with a single or multiple wagers on a more frequent basis while providing a relatively large jackpot to potential winners.